New paintings and regular art updates.
In the restroom at Spode. Lots of plants adorned the old windowsills. I gave them all a bit of water as they were looking very dry. I didn’t pour a lot of water in them as I didn’t want to disturb someone else’s regime of watering. It’s lovely to see them surviving as the space is boiling hot in summer and freezing cold in winter, but still the plants survive.
I may be wrong, but I think this plants colloquial name is Fox and Cubs? I think you get a main flower then a number of smaller flowers around it. I’ve seen it growing as a weed, with dandelion style seed heads? But I may be completely wrong and it could be a different plant entirely? If anyone knows please tell me. I think we saw these plants at the Dorothy Clive garden last year when we visited in the summer.
What is your favorite season of year? Why?
When Aqualegia (grannies bonnets) and Daffodils and Tulips flower. When the winter rains and frosts abate. When insects start collecting nectar and pollen and the sun rises earlier and sets later. Spring is my favourite season.
Spring refreshes the world, a fizz of flowers shoot up and cover the ground. Leaves sprout and burst from buds, trees are clothed in green again. Not the dark green of summer leaves, but the pale lime greens of new growth.
Not everyone has seasons, towards the equator the day length stays around the same length. The growing season is continuous and forests and jungles can grow to huge sizes. Unfortunately that means that loggers and farmers destroy virgin jungles by removing the trees and replacing them with palm oil plants or growing other crops such as corn and maize. This is destructive and raises the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
So my answer is that I love Spring, it helps me keep track of time. It is enchanting and beautiful. I’m glad I live somewhere that changes, even if it is only for a short time.
Rhododendrons look lovely, but they can be an invasive species. They shade out smaller plants and the ground around them becomes bare. I know in some places they are removed. Rhododendrons are native to Asia but were imported by plant collectors in the Victorian era. They ‘layer’ themselves to spread, a branch can touch the ground and where it rubs against the soil it will send out roots (or layer). This also happens with other plants. Forest and parkland have to be managed to protect it from invasive species like this and others such as Himalayan Balsam and Japanese Knotweed.
We used to buy more plants in the summer, this is a poppy from four years ago. I loved buying plants, but apart from ordering some hanging baskets for my birthday I don’t think we will have as much on show this year. But the trees are growing up and so are bushes. I might try and get some foxgloves…
Glass paperweights.
Sunshine flows through them
Glints and shimmers
Terrarium and plant
Absorb the light
Green and red
Life grows
Daylight glows
Deep green foliage, a gravel pathway and a bench. A calm place to rest and relax. Light streams through gaps in the planting. Bees hum and buzz. I wish I could go every day. Plants spread and cover the ground. The rhododendrons are in flower. This is the quarry at the Dorothy Clive garden in Staffordshire.
Do you have any collections?
Stones, rocks and crystals. Glass paperweights. Books. Plants (mainly Christmas cactuses). Cat ornaments. My paintings and art.
One small terraced house. Two bedrooms, one living room. Cluttered. I’m trying to declutter a bit, but it’s hard when you collect (or is it hoard?) things.
I tried counting the books once, but when I got to 1000 I gave up. I collected Terry Pratchettand and Ann McCaffrey books, also Ellis Peters (Brother Cadviael books). I might have spelt it wrong. I like science and biography, novels and history, too many…
Cat ornaments range from sculptures to small home made clay objects. I have most of them in the living room, sitting on the mantlepiece.
I also collect too much art supplies. I have lots of felt pens, brushes, paints, canvases. Yes it’s cluttered. So I need to organise everything. Have a spring clean. Dust off the glass paperweights, the cats, my paintings. If something happens to us goodness knows what my relatives will think!
It’s growing,
a bit of water
It’s gone mad!
Pots overflow
Burgeoning leaves
With green waterfalls
Bubbling out of the soil
Brown turned green
Ferns in the wall..
Yellow Welsh poppies
And dark mauve geraniums
Fun to see it grow
But no room to walk
A path is required
But raspberries
And blueberries
Have flowers
Now I need bees!
A few miles from Stoke on Trent in the Staffordshire countryside is the Dorothy Clive garden. We went there today because I knew the rhododendrons would be in flower and also I wanted to see if I could drive that far (my arm is still shaking and very sore and it’s hard to drive). Luckily I was OK and it was a gorgeous day and a lovely place to visit. You walk up from the car park at the bottom, past the pool, up a steepish slope covered in trees and flowerbeds. There is a cafe at the top and a dry garden and quarry garden at the top (where the majority of the rhododendrons are). There is also a stag sculpture and a waterfall. From the top of the garden you can see three counties, Staffordshire, Cheshire and Shropshire. Worth a day out….
Mallaband-Brown